HAMILTON

Thank you Hamilton!

So I went to see the play Hamilton last night and it gets pretty boring and repetitive so I decided to start day dreaming about my trailer and the plot.

Here is what I have come up with:

Trailer One: (REAL PLOT)
-staring at clock or asking someone for the time and then counting it and adding it up in her head
-hearing someone complaining about ocd in regards to only a clean room
-entry of a boy / love interest who goes through similar struggles and they can relate to each other

Trailer Two (JOURNAL/MONTAGE)
-clip of her completely losing her mind and screaming crying but all mute
-overlapping clips of people in her life telling her that she needs to control herself and just pay attention, etc
-then journaling about her issues and while she is journaling and maybe crying the voice in her head starts telling her to get up and make sure the front door is locked

Unfortunately,

Today in class I decided to share my ideas with my classmates and things simple did not go as planned at all. I had a couple questions for them but I realize I should not have brought up the first question. I was originally stuck on doing a drama but considered perhaps making it more of a thriller but when I brought that up my entire class had something to say which was not fun and no one agreed with each other. Also many of the things that my classmates did say about OCD were honestly offensive and very uneducated. This is a good thing and a bad thing, in class it made me very frustrated, but now I feel better about it. I feel better because I realized that I am not going to label the girl in my trailer as someone who is struggling with OCD because I do not have OCD like some people have it and I want to be able to do it justice so therefore I am going to portray a girl with mental illness and OCD tendencies but no hard labels to avoid one group from being singled out and leave the film more open. This way, more people will be able to relate to it and it doesnt close off any viewers.

During the group meetings I was thinking more about my plot and I decided that I want her to meet a friend / love interest and that that person will be the person that saves her from killing herself. I think I can highlight that in the trailer nicely and give people a strong reason so come see my film.

Hopefully I will have a fully developed movie plot in one of my next posts!!!

Until next time,
Lina

Moving Forward

Hi guys.

I had an epiphany!

I want to create a film that will highlight OCD in the light that shows what it really is, not what the media portrays it to be. There are a lot of misconceptions out there specifically about this mental illness. I think it would be really powerful if I could highlight a girl like me going through this. Hopefully my "viewers" could leave having an entirely new perspective on what OCD is and stop saying that it means that you get annoyed when you have a dirty room.

So this is great and everything, but portraying a mental illness means that I have to be really educated in the realm of it as to not offend anybody in the process. Although I have grown up with OCD symptoms I do not classify as having actual OCD. Therefore I have researched the illness heavily and am prepared here today to include my findings. I can use this research to help guide my choices while creating my film.



Definition: a mental health disorder which comes with repetitive actions that feel impossible to seize.
-3 million cases per year (US)
-may be lifelong or only last several years
-caused by family history mostly
-treatment may reduce symptoms

Symptoms:
-obsessions and or compulsions
-stress makes symptoms worse
-persistent, repeated, unwanted thoughts
-intrusive images or urges
-compulsive behavior to avoid thinking these thoughts

Complications:
-frequent hand-washing
-inability to attend work, school, etc
-troubled relationships with family and friends
-poor quality of life
-suicidal thoughts and actions

Links:
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/obsessive-compulsive-disorder
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-ocd-2510663

Kk bye,
Lina

Brainstorming

Here is an outline for my plan for my trailer as of now:

My star as of now is going to be my cousin, the issue is that she lives in Tampa because she goes to USF,  however, I will be visiting her soon and she visits her often.

I chose her because my idea for my film is a drama that can be related to kids my age. I want them to feel like they can understand it and be in her shoes. She is similar to me because she is around my age and we have the same values and ways of thinking, this is why I believe that I can use her. I am planning on creating a film that is based on things I am comfortable with and understand so I believe she will be a very effective tool to communicate my thoughts.

I want to do a drama because everyone is living in a drama everyday. I want to be able to teach a lesson to my viewers and hopefully they could hypothetically be able to apply what I am showcasing inside of the film to their real everyday life. 

I keep going back and forth trying to devise a plan for this project but I do not want to make a plot that is something too hard for my resources. For example, I obviously have a very low budget and minimal resources so sometimes I think of ideas but then I realize that I cannot really do it because I do not have the option to! Therefore I am trying to think practically for my plot but unfortunately is limiting me :(

Next week I will have a solid plan for this film and I will share that with you guys ! :)

Yours truly,
Lina 

Researching! Not procrastinating!

OK so I know I said I have a lot of ideas for what I am doing here but before I share I do want to share some of my research that I have been undergoing.

Let me explain.

I researched the conventions of movie trailers because I would like to be very solidly familiar with exactly what is expected of me throughout this process because since technically this will be my first trailer, I do not want to exactly stray too far away from the genre conventions.

The source that I chose explains the general trailer conventions very clearly as I will highlight:

-introduce main characters to the audience, make them relatable
-show where the setting of the film is
-create a brief outline of the plot
-mostly use shots from the beginning of the film to not give away too much
-show bits related to the genre of the film
-music in the background associated with the genre

Then I decided to deeply research the conventions of the drama genre trailer/film conventions because that is what I am most likely going to create: 

-exhibit real life situations with realistic characters, settings, stories
-show story of character development
-social interaction
-move the audience emotionally
-create a profound conflict (inner or outer realistic struggles)
-make it something that the audience can relate to
-climaxes, not just a climax, and multiple anti climaxes
-a realization at the end, usually happy

I also found a quite helpful quizlet that includes definitions for terms related to the elements of a drama film that could be helpful throughout this journey.

Yours truly,
Lina

PART 2

Hi all,

I am beyond excited to be writing this post tonight. After a ROUGH week of being ill, I am feeling so much better and I am ready to get this project on the move. Last year, I had such an amazing time during this process. I truly enjoyed all elements of it: the blogging, planning, shooting, editing, etc. Last year we created the film opening which to this day I am still very proud of. To be honest, I had my doubts after I showcased my work to my peers and they were not impressed, but you guys were, and I am proud of my work.

This year, we are enduring a different journey. I am completing the film promotion package. Although this choice was a highly discouraging one to everyone else in both classes at my high school, I am excited. It seems that I am the only student to pick this project but I am not too sure why quite honestly. In college, I intend on majoring in advertising with a minor in film. I am very interested in creating movie trailers and commercials, so picking this option was a no-brainer. To be clear, the option I have chosen is the film promotional package which includes two 2 minutes and 30 second long trailers, a website promoting the film, and the movie poster.

I am deep in the brain storming process and cannot wait to share with you my ideas very soon.

I do want to include that one thing that I am solidified in my mind is exactly who my target audience will be for this film. It will be me! Gen Z is my primary audience but also girls in the middle class. :)

Yours truly,
Lina